News

BOSTON- Brandeis University has stated that it won’t sell pieces from the Rose Art Museum’s collection, according to reports published on Thursday morning. David Ng of the Los Angeles Times reports that the university has settled its legal dispute with a group of prominent museum supporters who had been seeking to protect the collection from [...] Read more

SAN FRANCISCO– Just beyond the scope of the perpetual debate of revitalizing Mid-Market — defined as the stretch from Fifth Street to Van Ness Avenue — an extraordinary project is quietly closing its doors on an oblique, no-man’s-land corner of Market near Franklin. There, for one hundred days and nights, an empty glass storefront opened [...] Read more

DETROIT- The 2011 Kresge Artist Fellowships in the visual arts were announced yesterday. Each fellowship includes an unrestricted prize of $25,000 and personalized professional practice opportunities. Eleven artists and one artist collaborative were named 2011 fellows, selected from pool of 450 applicants. The fellowships are part of the Kresge Foundation’s effort to advance the artistic [...] Read more

ATHENS — Police fired tear gas at demonstrators in front of Parliament on Tuesday as Greeks began a 48-hour general strike ahead of a crucial vote by lawmakers on measures deemed critical to international financial support for the debt-ridden country. The strike, organized by the country’s two main unions, is the latest in a series of [...] Read more

NETHERLANDS–Nearly 3,000 people arrived in the centre of The Hague Sunday night as part of the March of Civilisation. Participants made the 25 km trek from Rotterdam as part of protest actions against government cuts to the culture sector. Demonstrations are set to reach a head on Monday when parliament debates the planned 200 million [...] Read more

NEW YORK- Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University Wednesday unveiled PressForward, a new open access platform for online scholarship. “It’s a major new initiative we’re launching to change the landscape of scholarly communication,” said Dan Cohen, a historian and the director of the center. With an $862,000 grant from [...] Read more

DETROIT- General Motors’ charitable foundation plans to give the College for Creative Studies $2.5 million. The gift, which GM announced today, will bring the Detroit design college within $5 million of completing its $55-million capital campaign for the $145-million Taubman Center for Design Education. The center is in the former Argonaut building, which housed GM’s [...] Read more

NETHERLANDS – On Friday the 24th June at noon local time, people and organisation joined this initiative in shrouding art locations across the world in coloured smoke. This visual act signals a resistance against the growing disdain for the arts within societies and governments worldwide, and a sign of support for colleagues who face major [...] Read more

UNITED KINGDOM–Nottingham University officials filmed Muslim students on campus as a method of monitoring “extremists” in the wake of the arrests of innocent Muslim students three years ago, it has emerged. President of Federation of Student’s Islamic Societies, Nabil Ahmed, described the disclosure by Unileaks as an outrage . “Claims that the University of Nottingham [...] Read more

ATLANTA— Eighteen-year-old Dulce Guerrero kept quiet about being an illegal immigrant until earlier this year, when she became upset after a traffic stop that landed her mother in jail for two nights. The arrest came as Georgia lawmakers were crafting what would become one of the nation’s toughest immigration crackdowns, and Guerrero feared her mother [...] Read more

MICHIGAN–After operating for nearly a century as an entity of Muskegon Public Schools, the Muskegon Museum of Art is officially on the road to independence. A formal agreement to transfer the museum to its independent foundation board by June 30, 2014, has been approved by the school board and the foundation board. Exactly when the [...] Read more

UNITED KINGDOM–Public sector strikes have followed student protests against higher tuition fees and the scrapping of allowances. Thousands of school and college students are expected to stage walkouts this month as part of a growing wave of occupations and demonstrations planned to support the co-ordinated strike action organised by trade unions.Students behind last year’s demonstrations against [...] Read more

LONDON- Works by participants in the National Art and Design Saturday Club scheme, which provide free tuition from local art colleges for young people is now on show at the London Somerset House, reports Rebecca Smithers of The Guardian. The Saturday club is a modern version of an earlier incarnation, which closed in the 1970s. [...] Read more

BEIJING- David Ng of the Los Angeles Times reports that Ai Weiwei has been released from detainment, though the exact terms of his release remain unclear. Ai had been in detainment since early April, when he was seized by Chinese authorities while trying to travel from Beijing to Hong Kong. The Xinhua news agency, which [...] Read more

NEW YORK– Thomas N. Armstrong III, who greatly expanded the Whitney Museum of American Art’s holdings when he was its director in the 1970s and ’80s but whose ambitious plans for a museum addition aroused a firestorm of opposition that led to his dismissal, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 78.Thomas N. Armstrong III in [...] Read more

Syracuse University– recently announced the expansion of its educational presence in the Persian Gulf. In June, an information center will open in Dubai, providing resources and background on the University to prospective students and parents. Punctuated by a ribbon cutting on June 17, the opening underscores SU’s dedication to engaging students in learning opportunities for [...] Read more

DUBLIN- Emigration from Ireland to Britain rose by a staggering 25 per cent in 2010 according to a new survey just published – and the figure is set to rise further in 2011. A significant percentage of the emigrants are newly graduated students. Dublin’s leading social policy think-tank, the ESRI, recently estimated that around 70,000 [...] Read more

TUCSON- Nearly $1.3 million in goods, services and cash was donated to the Scottsdale Unified School District during the current fiscal year that began July 1, down slightly from $1.4 million in 2010-11. Mary Beth Faller of the tucsoncitizen.com reports that the figure represents the value of gifts that corporations, local businesses, foundations and individuals [...] Read more

WASHINGTON, DC- The Associated Press reports that Virginia has been chosen as the home of the National Museum of the U.S. Army. The Army said Friday that the museum will be located at the North Post of Fort Belvoir. The museum is scheduled to open in June 2013. Among other things, it will include a [...] Read more

CHILE– Student protesters and police clash during demonstrations over education reform in Santiago, the latest in a series of protests against the government’s legislative agenda. Carrying posters and banners, students demanded improved education standards, lower university fees and cheaper bus passes from Chile’s center-right government. The protesters estimated by police at around 70,000, in the [...] Read more

KOREA–Students participating in the growing “half-price tuition” demonstrations have accused the police of unreasonable investigations into university students that were arrested on June 10 when conducting a flash demonstration near Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House). It has emerged that police demanded that a female student being held at [...] Read more

NETHERLANDS–The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten is currently petitioning the Secretary of Culture Mr. Halbe Zijlstra, and members of the Dutch Parliament in regards to recent proposed funding cuts that would threaten the very existence of the Rijksakademie. The intention to terminate governmental support as of 2013 would likely endanger the future of the institution as it [...] Read more

CHILE–School protests continued to spread throughout the country from Arica in far northern Chile to Puerto Montt in the south. Now, students, teachers, administrators and government officials are gearing up for nationwide demonstrations planned for this week. University student protests have been going on for weeks, but high school student protests are just beginning. High school student demonstrations [...] Read more

EGYPT–The situation of Egyptian universities reflects the immense challenges and conflicts the country faces in the transformation since Mubarak was forced to step down on February 11th. The Minister of Higher Education of the caretaker cabinet announced that there would be no new policy initiatives until a new full government takes over. Moreover, in reality [...] Read more

SPAIN - One month ago, Jon Aguirre Such was just another Madrid student. Now, as one of the spokespersons for the “15-M” protest movement, he has become a celebrity, with the media seeking interviews with him and people recognising him on the street. What represents 15-M signifies, is that “It is about us, the ordinary people, [...] Read more

SEUOL–Five hundred apples made a surprise appearance at Seoul’s Cheonggye Plaza, the site of a candlelight vigil demonstration for “half-price tuition” Friday evening. The fruit was furnished by the members of a student parents’ group, who cut the apples in half and shared them with the university students attending the assembly. The meaning of the [...] Read more

TEL AVIV- Mordechai Omer, the director and chief curator of the Tel Aviv Museum and professor at the faculty of arts at Tel Aviv University, died of cancer last week. He was seventy years old. Greer Fay Cashman of the Jerusalem Post writes that Omer contributed immensely to Israeli art by championing young artists and [...] Read more

LOS ANGELES- According to lists compiled by the College Art Association, a venerable professional group whose membership includes the vast majority of American academics in the field, the most-studied area for doctoral candidates in Art History in the U.S. and Canada last year — by a long shot — was art made in roughly the [...] Read more

LOS ANGELES- Jason Song of the Los Angeles Times reports 7,000 Los Angeles school district employees have received preliminary layoff notices’. The nation’s second-largest school system is facing an estimated $408-million shortfall, and many unions have agreed to their members’ taking four unpaid days off. But, depending on the state’s budget, district officials could still [...] Read more

PROVIDENCE — In 2003, the City of Providence and its then-newly elected mayor, David N. Cicilline, did something that few American cities have ever done: they created a new public agency, the Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, to oversee arts-related events and activities. At the stroke of a pen, art, music and theater joined [...] Read more

LOS ANGELES- Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times today reports that a new leader is expected at the flagship arts high school in downtown Los Angeles. Kim Bruno, who currently heads New York’s prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, is said to be the new principal, though there is [...] Read more

NEW YORK- For the first time in four years, the number of certified arts teachers in the city’s public schools is declining, according to a report to be released by the Center for Arts Education on Thursday. Anna Phillips of the New York Times reports that in 2009-2010, there were 135 fewer arts teachers in [...] Read more

NEW YORK- The Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday announced a rise in admission cost and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston followed suit, announcing an increase in their admissions hours after, both effective July 1. The recommended fair at the Metropolitan will now be $25 for adults, $17 for seniors, and $12 for students. [...] Read more

PRESS RELEASE please distribute *THE REMOVAL OF AIDAN SALAKHOVA’S SCULPTURES FROM THE PAVILION OF AZERBAIJAN IN 54TH VENICE BIENNALE* I was invited by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan to be the advisory curator of the exhibition of Azerbaijan Pavilion in 54th Venice Biennale. From September 2010 on I have worked with Mr. Chingiz Farzaliev, [...] Read more

MINNEAPOLIS- The Minneapolis Institute of Arts yesterday named Liu Yang curator of Chinese art and head of the museum’s department of Asian art, effective June 2011. Lang has worked as the senior curator of Chinese art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney since 2011. The MIA also announced the establishment of [...] Read more

CALIFORNIA– Kenneth Wright of Stockton, California was almost knocked down by a S.W.A.T. team breaking down his door one morning. He says they then handcuffed him and put him in the back of a police car. Federal agents confirmed that the Department of Education was behind the raid on Wright’s house. They were in search [...] Read more

CAIRO—Ahmed Abdallah, political scientist and activist, died in 2006, five years ago today. Professor Roger Owen gave a talk at Cairo University on the first anniversary of Abdalla’s death. In his talk, Owen called for instituting an annual lecture at Cairo University in his memory – the call fell on deaf ears. The talk was [...] Read more

SAN FRANCISCO- The head of a San Francisco nonprofit group that teaches art to children has been charged with possessing child pornography, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. FBI agents traced Anthony Josef Norris’ log-on name of “Spanky” to his home computer and discovered 600 pornographic images of children, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed [...] Read more

PROVIDENCE- Dawn Barret finished her post Saturday as dean of architecture and design at the Rhode Island School of Design [RISD]. She leaves RISD to assume her appointment as president of the Massachusetts College of Art in Design. The Providence Journal reports that as the president of MassArt, Barrett will be responsible for making a [...] Read more

NEW YORK- American Friends of the Louvre announced that it has received a $3 million grant through the generosity of Pierre Omidyar, a member of Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute’s Board of Directors and the founder and Chairman of eBay Inc. The grant will be used to create an endowment fund that will support educational and [...] Read more

LOS ANGELES- The Broad Art Foundation has hired arts administrator Heath Fox as deputy director of operations for The Broad, a new contemporary art museum that philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad are building in downtown Los Angeles. Fox will assume his duties June 27. Since 2006, Fox has been assistant dean of arts and humanities [...] Read more

OTTAWA — During the reading of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s throne speech today, a young page was yanked from the Senate Chamber as she tried to hold up a stop-sign placard reading “Stop Harper.” “Harper’s agenda is disastrous for this country and for my generation,” Brigette Marcelle says. “We have to stop him from wasting [...] Read more

TANZANIA— After a series of boycotts, protests and demonstrations at public and private universities across the country over delayed and insufficient student loans. Kikwete has accused his political rivals of orchestrating student boycotts and street demonstrations in an attempt to make the country ungovernable. Analysts warn unrest over loans and tuition fees could spread to [...] Read more

UNITED KINGDOM—International league tables show only Oxford and Cambridge currently perform among the world’s elite in the provision of key academic subjects. Many other institutions fail to even make it into the top 200 in a global ranking charting performance in philosophy, modern languages, linguistics, history, geography and English. But researchers warned that Britain risked [...] Read more

RICHMOND- Steven Holl Architects and BCWH Architects have been selected to design Virginia Commonwealth University’s new Institute for Contemporary Art. The 32,000 square foot Institute will provide gallery space, classrooms, offices, art storage spaces and an auditorium, and accommodate a sculpture garden and a café. “Situated at one of the most traveled entrances to the [...] Read more

HOUSTON- The directors of Spring Branch Education Foundation (SBEF) in Houston, Texas have approved $80,000 in grants that will be used for diverse education-enhancing projects throughout Spring Branch ISD, including a variety of arts programs. The funds are designated for district-wide projects and SBISD campuses. Twice a year, the foundation calls for grant applications, up [...] Read more

TOPEKA- Kansas Governor Sam Brownback eliminated state funding for arts programs on Saturday, leaving the Kansas Arts Commission without budget, staff, or offices. Brownback seeks to replace the commission with a private, non-profit foundation, noting that “the arts will continue to thrive in Kansas when funded by private donations.” Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles [...] Read more

Palo Alto — On an early May morning 43 years ago, fire swept through Stanford University’s Navy ROTC building, destroying a structure that had been damaged in another suspicious blaze just two months earlier. No arrests were ever made in the two arson fires, but they came at a time of angry, sometimes violent demonstrations [...] Read more